"anita" wrote in message
...
Thanks for the replies.
That would be quite interesting...mice in a sealed system....IF its
still sealed..
I am assuming u are talking abt my type. 
Anyway when we bought the
house a couple of registers were off and to the side, and who knows what
the previous owners did.
Talking about any HVAC system in any home..
it should be sealed from the return, to the supplys....if not, its not
correct.
Yup....look.
Seriously...you look inside them.
Two problems with that-1) I dont know how to remove metal the ducts,
they are covered with insulation batting and some kind of plastic
sheeting over it held together with duct tape.
You dont.
If its square duct, its also held in place with a pitsbugh cleat or other
form of rolled edge.
If they are round, they are prob not insulated on the inside, since you just
described duct wrap insulated duct.
2) I would not know fibreglass interior insulation if it hit me in the
head. If I can somehow see inside the ducts, ( not just the ends of the
duct where the registers are) and it looks like metal I guess I could
assume its all metal everywhere. Here is another thought maybe I could
clang something inside it and see if it is metallic sounding or a dull
thud. If it has fibreglass interior insulation how thick is is typically
? So I can figure out if its useful at all to try a sound test.
I would not even do that. IF a customer called, and wanted to know, its
real simple, a roll of UL181AB tape, a section of sheetmetal, a snip, and
some screws and mastic..
Cut a small hole in the middle, insert the lens, or look on the BACK side of
the section I just removed...its either insulated or not, patch the hole,
hold in place with a couple of screws, tape over it, mastic the tape, put a
new section of insulation in, and tape and mastic it.
That way, you know without a doubt what you are messing with.
I am calling around looking for HVAC contractors but I dont want to
waste their time or mine if it is metal ducts because I know I can clean
them as far as possible without worrying about fibreglass dust.
Fiberglass dust? Umm...its been ruled out as a carcenogen. So thats not a
worry, altho, I refuse to use duct that has insulation on the inside, or
ductboard type ducts.
You are not wasting a contractors time. If you just bought the home, hes the
guy you want out there anyway, since you should go ahead and have the system
cleaned, and serviced.
No telling when the previous owners did, and if you have one you have used
before, he should tell you about the ducts for nothing.
Duct cleaning, in most cases, is a total scam.
If the ducts are that bad, for whatever reason the correct method is
to replace them.
Yep read the EPA stuff on it, the jury is still out on that it seems,
besides I've read some the experiences of ppl here - about not
disturbing anything too deep in there....
To me its not.
I love the cleaning companies...they make us lots of money when we get
called out to fix the things they destroy.
I had a customer call me one time and said that a local company removed over
30lbs of dirt from her ducts and wanted to know why...
it was the insulation from a section of old duct they got...
real nice..
If I wanted to retire in a couple of years, I would start a duct cleaning
company...or add it to ours.
Again....the actual need for such is so minute, its not worth it.
The Inspector runs about $2500 for the good model.
What about some cheapo fibreoptic scope ? It would be a fun thing to
have anyway!
$300 or more for one that you can actually use..
Ive looked at the cheapos .....real nice (sarcasm here) views....
I've gotten a lot of hardware cloth, screws etc., getting ready to find
and seal em entry points, I just want to be SURE. I really dislike the
thought of unknown mice/rats running around in my house. I dont so much
mind the known ones (ie., pets which we dont have or intend to). Just so
that those mouse fanciers out there know that this is an issue of
territoriality. I digress.
UL181A-B tape and a bucket of mastic....thats what you need.
a set of UV-C band lamps installed in
the ductwork to kill anything that might be in the airstream.
I had not heard of that one -sounds very interesting. While I believe an
occasional flu and cough/cold etc., keeps ones immune system buzy,
things like HANTA/corona virus/sin nombre and various other
unpronouncibles scare the daylights out of me.
We install them in all the new installs that are 14 SEER or higher, and if
the customer wants them in a low end system, thats fine too.
I have two on my home, and its more than paid for itself.
We use the UltraVation models now, due to the incredible warranty on them.
I was using one company, but they didnt like us selling them direct to
homeowners, so we dropped them, but still buy parts for the customrs we
service and bought from us.
they work...
www.ultravation.com
Thanks much
Anita